The public needs to know the truth. Teachers are not paid for accumulated vacation days. As a matter of fact, many of us did not even know this policy existed.

The media has not been responsible when the term "school employees" has been used in their reports. This has led many to believe that Hamilton County teachers will receive large sums of money when they retire. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In response to a comment made about this issue, I would love it if "teachers were judged by the same standard as other businesses". Then we would actually get a decent pay raise; we would be paid overtime for before school hours, after school hours, weekend hours, and summer hours; we would have one hour for lunch instead of 25 minutes; and we would be reimbursed for all the money we have spent for our students and classroom.

In spite of it all, we love what we do and will continue to put our students first.

Dan Cochran
Hamilton County Teacher
hdc248@bledsoe.net

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Thank you Mr. Cochran. As I sit here wondering whether my wife, you, and all of the other teachers will be safe in the morning trying to get to work I appreciate the fact that you are honest and forthright about the plight of our teachers in this county.

It is no wonder that we cannot get young teachers to work here. I feel that no one represents the teachers. Anytime there is bad publicity we hear that "the teachers" of this county are to blame. However, it is rare that the teachers are actually causing a problem--they are too busy trying to correct problems.

When our administrators, our school board personnel, and our county commissioners are lacking in competence, we blame the teachers. The hardest working people in the school system are the classroom teachers and the media needs to do more to get the word out to the public.

Again, thank you.

Ron Walker
bdfw@comcast.net

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I wonder from Mr. Cochran's post if his perceptions of how businesses other than schools/school systems operate is representative of the teaching profession as a whole. From what I understand teachers are primarily salaried employees as are many in other businesses--what this means is the employee is paid a salary to cover all the work a position entails regardless of the hours required to do it. I work as a salaried employee and experience the same issues, but if I wanted to be paid by the hour I would get an hourly job instead.

He is wrong, too, about the one-hour lunch; employees working for many types of businesses are normally allowed only thirty minutes for lunch. Also, many employees other than teachers buy supplies and other items to help them on their jobs for which they know they will not receive reimbursement from their employer.

Don't misunderstand my response, however. I know most teachers are hard-working, dedicated, caring professionals, but at least some of them seem to think other professionals aren't as dedicated and caring. When a person takes a job he should inquire and be aware of all requirements, wages and pay policies, and if those do not meet with his liking he should find another job. Everybody who becomes a teacher knows it's a nine- or ten-month per year ob--and the salary and benefits should reflect that. If a person needs/wants to be paid for twelve months then he needs to work twelve months whether it takes one job or more.

As the parent of a child who attends a Hamilton County school, I agree that the schools could learn a lot from other businesses but I suggest it's not just about personnel issues such as wages and benefits. The schools need help with efficiency--if businesses were operated in the unorganized, sloppy and inefficient manner schools are they wouldn't be in business long.

And if teachers in Hamilton County do not accumulate vacation pay (and I believe this is because their paid vacations are built into the school calendar) what about their sick leave days when they retire? Aren't those sick leave days counted as service credit by the retirement system (TCRS)?

C Arnhart
clea822@earthlink.net

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I recently received an email from a teacher very upset because people are lumping in the teachers with the administrators as far as benefits. Let's set the record straight. Teachers are grossly underpaid and underappreciated. This is a well known fact. While I am disgusted with the school board for the way our children are being left behind, it must also be said that the teachers are being left behind also. The people that were on the vacation pay list were not teachers. They were administrators, principals, and asst. principals. What about the teachers?

I realize that principals and asst. principals have demanding jobs. But their efforts and sacrifices for the most part are recognized much more so than those of the teachers. The teachers are the ones that listen to our children, discipline them, help them thru the good days and bad, comfort them when they're upset or sick, and try to guide them on a path to a better future. They are the ones that make the sacrifices that most school administrators know nothing about. So how is it that they are being left behind just as our children are being left behind? It is the school board's responsibility to fix this mess of a school system so that not only will our children be better educated, but our teachers will be paid what they deserve to be paid, and will receive the benefits they deserve to receive. We all know what the problems are. It's high time they were fixed.

I urge each and every parent, teacher, and even the students to write to your Congressman and Senator and bring to light the problems of the Hamilton County School System. Hamilton County was once one of the highest rated counties in the state as far as education goes. It's high time we bring it back to the county it once was.

Mariah Smith
squidswife97@yahoo.com